Egypt: Tourist numbers drop by 27% in 2014

There has been a 27 per cent reduction in tourist numbers in Egypt between February 2013 and the same period in 2014, the Egyptian Central Agency for Public Mobilisation and Statistics said yesterday.

Releasing its monthly bulletin on tourist statistics the agency revealed the number of tourists from around the world had reached 617,000 during February 2014 as opposed to 845,000 in February 2013. In contrast, the number of tourists in 2010, before the revolution began, was 1,069,934, which means there has been a 42 per cent drop in overall tourist numbers.

In February this year, the largest group of tourists came from Eastern Europe, then Western Europe and the Middle East.

Tourists coming from Arab countries amounted to 86,000 people in in February 2014 as opposed to 149,000 in February 2013; a 41.9 per cent decline. Arab tourists constituted 14.1 per cent of the total number of tourists.